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William Martindale

@wijama.bsky.social

540 followers 840 following 770 posts

Taiwanese-American MCEPA student at UC San Diego. Known as 馬凱威 to the other half of my family. I research conspiracy theories in the Chinese-speaking world. Follow me for bad jokes, stats nerd stuff, and updates on whatever I'm reading.

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William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · Aug 8

Pleased to share that my undergraduate thesis, "Partisanship, Security, and Global Status: Anatomy of Taiwan’s March 19 Shooting Conspiracy Theories" is now available to read on BYU ScholarsArchive. In it, I examine an understudied conspiracy theory and implications on the field. Here's a summary 🧵

Partisanship, Security, and Global Status: Anatomy of Taiwan’s March 19 Shooting Conspiracy Theories

Previous research has shown how belief in particular conspiracy theories is subject to their salience to believers. Using the example of Taiwan’s March 19 shooting conspiracy theories, I show in this ...

scholarsarchive.byu.edu

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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 1d

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact"

The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

www.cato.org

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Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 1d

I googled “patron saint of frogs” for a bit and then immediately abandoned the bit because I would so much rather actually talk about St. Ulphia the 8th century hermit who cursed her local frogs for keeping her up at night and making her sleep through church

Her hermitage was located in a marshy wetland, inhabited by frogs whose loud croaking kept her up all night. One day, she was so tired that she slept through when Domitius knocked at her door, and he, thinking she had already gone on ahead, left without her. Legend states that Ulphia placed the frogs in the area around her under interdict as a result of their loud croaking, which kept her awake at nights.
A 19th century hagiographer noted that the frogs in the area around the oratory of Saint Ulphia were, indeed, very quiet. However, if these frogs were taken elsewhere, they became boisterous once again.
At the end of her life, she formed and directed a community of religious women at Amiens.
In iconography, she is depicted as a young nun seated in prayer on a rock with a frog in the pool near her.

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Senate Judiciary Democrats 🇺🇸 @judiciarydems.senate.gov · 1d

BREAKING: Sens. DURBIN, DUCKWORTH were just denied entrance to the Broadview ICE Facility in Illinois, unable to conduct constitutional role of oversight.

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William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 1d

If I was Lecornu I would instantly resign again

William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 1d

He was right omg www.bbc.com/news/article...

William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 1d

You really really won't believe who the new French PM is then

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

they can see the polling

Alex Wayne @aawayne.bsky.social · 2d

“Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”

The Republican chair of the National Governors Association breaks with Trump.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/u...

Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Criticizes National Guard Deployment in Chicago

www.nytimes.com

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Sarah Posner @sarahposner.bsky.social · 2d

These are terrible numbers for Trump (via @pewresearch.org)

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

"Majorities say trump has used his office improperly; fewer say he has improved government, U.S. standing" (graphs via Pew Research)

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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 2d

It is pretty galling that the Supreme Court spent four years telling Biden "you can't do that without Congress" then allowed Trump to seize a once-unthinkable amount of power from Congress within nine months and concentrate law-making authority almost entirely in the executive branch.

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William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 3d

I'm learning QGIS for a class and it is a very frustrating experience. Doing anything requires 400 clicks. Whenever I use it I just wish there was a program that let you just type what you want and get a map out. They could integrate it with a statistical program and call it ggmap

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 3d

Good lord.

@apnews.com

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Danielle Froom 🏳️‍🌈 @danifroom.bsky.social · 12d

I don't think we'll ever get another sentence which sums up everything the New York Times embodies quite like "Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians".

Matt Cameron @mattcameron.bsky.social · 12d

hey @nytimes.com: there is no counterpoint here. There are no credible legal experts who would EVER say that the US military has any right or authority to blow civilian craft out of the Caribbean and kill their crews from afar without any provocation. There is no other side to this question.

"Some legal experts have called it a crime to summarily kill civilians not directly taking part in hostilities, even if they are believed to be smuggling drugs."

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William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 4d

I'll have to try this, salmon skin is so good omg. A sushi place near where I grew up has an incredible salmon skin roll that I always get when I come by because it's so good.

William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 4d

the fried skin of, like, any animal. I used to get meat skin-on just so I could make my own fried chicken skin or pork rinds or whatever. these days it's usually too much trouble for me but man I love eating skin

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 5d

What foods do you love that you fully acknowledge make you a pervert for loving them?

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George Pearkes @peark.es · 4d

It's black letter, can't get more explicit, printed in US code you ignoramus. 31 U.S. Code § 1341 (c)(2)

*JOHNSON: SOME LEGAL ANAYLYSTS DON'T BELIEVE IN SHUTDOWN BACKPAY

(2)Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee’s standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates, and subject to the enactment of appropriations Acts ending the lapse.

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 5d

And here we go. I never wrote this article, and yet it is cited here.

www.liberalbriefs.com/geopolitics/...

And of course, it sounds so plausible, I seriously checked whether I had forgotten it, or the footnote was slightly wrong.

#AIisnotresearch

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William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 5d

they go to me. I'm the one collecting all the nets

Reposted by William Martindale

Chaucer Doth Tweet @levostregc.bsky.social · 8d

Peacehammer 40K: Paintinge litel miniatures of gardeneres, sculptors, academics. Trimminge hedges. Makinge friendes.

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Brendan O’Kane @bokane.org · 5d

Literary Chinese for bust-ass dynasties:

鋪眉苫眼早三公
Cozen. Flatter. Ingratiate --
The Three High Offices of state.

(from 譏時 'The Times We Live In' by Zhang Mingshan 張鳴善, fl. 14th c.)

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 5d

They literally just fought a Supreme Court case for the right to racially profile. It was in the news!

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

DHS's Tricia McLaughlin: "It is a disgusting smear to say there is racial profiling going on."

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Xu Xu @xuxupolitics.bsky.social · 5d

Why do authoritarian states charge political opponents with non-political crimes? In our @thejop.bsky.social paper with Jennifer Pan & @yiqingxu.bsky.social, we examine how *Disguised Repression* undermines opponents’ moral authority and mobilization capacity. doi.org/10.1086/7342...

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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 5d

This is notable because the government isn’t supposed to indefinitely hold people in immigration detention just for funsies if it doesn’t plan to remove the person any time soon. Abrego’s counsel has raised SCOTUS case law to that effect in seeking his release

bsky.app/profile/anna...

Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 5d

The government said it was going to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda. Then it said Eswatini.

But today, a DOJ attorney just told a federal judge that they haven't formalized a plan for removal yet. They apparently haven't even contacted Eswatini about the plan to remove Abrego there.

Roger Parloff @rparloff.bsky.social · 5d

O'H: YH, we--
J: is that a no?
O'H: respondents haven't formalized a poarticular plan for removal yet. gov'ts position is taht under Zadvydas govt has 6 months
J: so answer is no?
O'H: i can't make that representation. we dont know.
J: then answer is no.
/14

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William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 6d

uhhhhhhhhhhh

William Martindale @wijama.bsky.social · 6d

what

Reposted by William Martindale

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 7d

I keep going back to this, but one of the reasons South Korea has an incredibly effective protest culture is because they have *decades* of organizational experience through daily/weekly protesting. it helps a lot to do the routine stuff to be able to pull off the big stuff.

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · 7d

Why doesn't the US have a general strike? Well you can point to culture or whatever but I think structure is of not immediate use here: does the US have organizations and institutions it can use to network, organize and mobilize a general strike? No.

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